story

WARNING!
There is swearing in this.












Chapter 1

Under a moonlit sky a lone fishing boat bobbed on the black water. Two silhouettes sat in the boat. One stood rapidly and raising his voice, said “We should kill him now! His continued existence presents a threat to our whole operation.”

“Calm yourself, and you know very well why we can’t.” said the sitting one in a voice almost like honey but for the rough edge on it.

The standing one chuckled. “You believe those old wives tales?” he chucked again.

“So, your brother is still alive then?”

The standing one chuckled a third time, this time nervously. “That was… a freak accident. That wasn’t…”

The sitting one spoke again. “You know it is true. And even if that were not you cannot deny that every agent we have sent to kill that boy has either vanished completely, or turned up dead without a scar.”

“How do we know the he is the one? He hasn’t moved on us, or even shown he knows of our existence.” The standing many said.

“You would know why if you used your brain for once. All the evidence is there and you damn well know it.” The smooth voiced man snapped. “The creature that is protecting the boy forces our belief.” The silhouetted head turned back to the other man after having glanced at the water. “Even if it forces out belief in some ‘old wives tales’.”  

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. THUD. A loud yell rang out from under the leather awning as the youth there smashed his thumb with the hammer he had been using to pound the metal.Biting back a curse he withdrew the injured digit from the anvil and proceeded to hold it very tightly.

“PEPIN!”  Came from the boy. A youngish girl of around 15 ran from the door of the house and came under the awning and stared at the boy. “Please get the salve. Now.” The boy said through gritted teeth. “Why? What happened?” she responded. He gave an expression that clearly said “Really?” and held out his thumb. Pepin gave a nonsensical sound and ran for the inn across the street. A few moments later a scrawny middle aged man burst through the saloon style doors and roared. “This is the last time I do this for you, you ungrateful little… and why are you are you pounding that hammer so hard ya-“

“Just get over here with the salve will ya!?” the boy interrupted. The innkeeper gave some more choice words as he stormed over. Pepin made sure to keep out of his way. Interrupting him yet again the boy added. “You remember those clasps on the pipes from the latrine? The one right over the main dining area?” The innkeeper’s eyes bulged from their sockets. “You never fixed that! It rained shit on my clients for over a week. I had to pay Louis 20 full pieces of gold to replace the walls the next time someone flushed the toilet! I had to give Louis two whole pints of my best brew to boot! ”

 The innkeeper ranted a good two minutes as the blacksmith smeared the cream on his injury.  “You’ve got to be the worst blacksmith I ever had the unfortunate luck to find, Kyle!” slapping the wound to the Kyle’s great pain he returned to the inn in the same manner he had left muttering under his breath about “useless kid” and “makin’ me leave my customers.”

As he passed her Pepin said sweetly. “Thank you, James.” The innkeeper grunted in acknowledgement and went back into his inn. Pepin sidled up to Kyle and said. “Hey Kyle can we to that one place? You‘ve done enough work for today.” She gave him a sweet irresistible smile. Kyle groaned. “Pepin, you know I have to finish this shovel by tomorrow and then I have to work on those pipe clasps in the inn.” Pepin gave a pouty expression. “But, I suppose we can go to the fair.”

When they got to the fair they found an event that James was participating in. he took a hammer and smacked a button sending a peg flying up into a bell. Kyle began to approach but stopped when he felt a cold metal touch his neck. James had noticed the pair by then and the man behind them. He asked.

“Who is this?” the man who had the metal knife began to turn to flee. James caught up to him and promptly kicked him in a rather unpleasant place.  Then he tried to bring the hammer down on the man’s leg, but missed and hit his thumb. The man lay there groaning.

“That’s courtesy of Kyle’s hammer.” James said in reference to Kyle’s broken thumb. Two guards came over and took the assassin away.

Later that night, Kyle heard a crash from the main room. He rose quietly to his feet and drew the concealed sword from where it was hidden behind his cashbox. He quietly crept into the main room and when he got there he saw a man lying on the ground. The man was deathly pale, and didn’t appear to be breathing. An iron knife was clutched in his fist. Kyle rushed over to the man and, laying his sword on the ground, he knelt by the body. The door burst open and Greg came in with the pitchfork. “What is going on?!”